"The Quality Education Advocate"

I come before you this afternoon to ask,"Why is the District proposing to add a Director of College and Career Readiness? And why at this time?" I assume it is because the duties, as described in the posting, are extensive and current administrators already have too much to do and this would be an onerous burden for any of them to take on.

I am not here to dispute whether or not this position is warranted. What I would like to do is discuss the disparity between this action and what is happening with my members.

For two years I have told the district that the burden and workload has increased for members. The response I have received is, “We know. We are in a transition and things will be harder for a few years.” When I ask that what we see as unnecessary tasks be eliminated or give teachers more freedom to proceed as they, the classroom experts, see fit, I am told, “No, this is the road we have chosen to go down. We are not changing.” In fairness, minor changes have been made and these have lightened the burden somewhat, but the fact is members are still overworked and we don’t have the luxury of adding more helpers as the District does.

Over the past two years the District has created and added positions for a new Assistant Superintendent, a new Coordinator of Special Education, a new Risk Manager, and now a new Director of College and Career Readiness.

This year the Board has seen presentations on and/or recognized the Dual Immersion program, the Hundred Mile Club, elementary programming and robotics, middle school STEM students, secondary animation award winners, and the elementary stringed music program. I ask who has worked with the students to help them achieve these accomplishments? Was it an administrator? No. Do any of the administrative positions I’ve mentioned work directly with students? No. It is teachers. Teachers going above and beyond. I’m here asking you to remember your teachers, to remember that student achievement and success are dependent upon your teachers, to respect and support your teachers.